


Another Chance

by rainsonata



Category: Elsword (Video Game)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-30
Updated: 2016-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-15 16:08:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28816110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainsonata/pseuds/rainsonata
Summary: Esper comes home with a young Add that recently escaped slavery.  Mastermind and Psyker aren’t sure on what to do.





	Another Chance

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on tumblr.

“What’s this?” Mastermind’s voice raised an octave when Esper showed up at the front doorstep with blood dripping on the welcome mat.

While it wasn’t foreign for Esper to come home with his plug suit smelling of questionable origins, Mastermind stared at the extra person that came along with the time traveler. Standing behind the Esper was a small child of eight or nine years old, only slightly taller than his waist if they stood next to each other. The child’s clothes have seen better days, worn and discolored from overuse, tattered with holes near the edges and had a loose strand of thread poking out from the sleeve. His pale complexion made him sickly, his hair gray with dirt and smeared with dark red clumps of dried blood. There was pity when Mastermind looked into the dreary eyes of his younger self.

It certainly wasn’t the first he met other versions of himself thanks to Esper, but Mastermind could never shake off the strange feeling of meeting yet another alternative self. How far back was Add from? Where did he come from? When he asked Esper, all he received for answer was “Freed. Slave owners.” 

He stole a glimpse of his younger self, almost afraid to see the child’s reaction at the merest mention of slavery. Add stayed quiet, his eyes sparse of any emotions aside from a brief moment of fear before returning back to apathy. 

The collar was big Add’s neck, but not too much that he couldn’t easily rip it out. Loose enough for a child to grow into them. The collar didn’t look worn or faded out, so he couldn’t have been a slave for too long, maybe one to two years at most.

“So he’s from back then,” Psyker said with a distant expression not too different from Add’s. His voice was laced with disgust on the few words he uttered. They all hated talking about the past, but Psyker wasn’t one to keep it under the wraps if it bothered him. 

“You’re going to scare him if you keep frowning like that,” Esper laughed at Psyker’s stoned face. “I thought of bringing him here so you could remove the collar for us,” he said as the brawler absentmindedly felt around his neck with one hand, the same area where Add’s choker was. 

“Us?” Mastermind repeated the words. “You can’t be saying that we are to take care of him.”

Add turned away with a wary expression, opening his mouth but closing them again, as if afraid of the consequences if he was to open his mouth. Seconds passed before he held his head down in what looked like shame and closed his eyes to reveal heavy bags under them. 

“He needs a change in clothes,” Psyker broke the awkward silence. “We can discuss this tomorrow.” 

Mastermind gave Psyker and the child a curt nod, too stunned to open his mouth. His silver tongue has brought more trouble than its worth on numerous occasions, but this was different. He wasn’t talking to a brat like Elsword or someone who acted like one like Lu, but Add who is a child. He cursed at himself for letting his words tumble out like that, as if the child was a nuisance. 

Psyker took Add by the hand and nudged the child to another room. It was then Mastermind noticed that Add was barefooted and it stung when he realized how small Add was for his age. The looks Esper was sending to Mastermind weren’t helping and the scientist would be lying if he said that he didn’t feel guilty.

“Those slave owners were more pathetic than I remembered.” Esper said when Psyker and Add were out of earshot. “Add wasn’t there to see it, of course. Not that it mattered since they didn’t have time to say much.”

Esper inspected his nails, blood stuck underneath them and gritty with dirt. Much to Mastermind’s annoyance, thick layer of mud caked on the shoulder blades of his plug suit and flaked off onto the carpeted floor when he moved around. 

“Amazing he managed to outrun them for a bit. I ran into them when they were chasing him through the forest.”

“You really plan on taking him in?” Mastermind asked, “Do you even know the first thing about raising children? This isn’t like a cat where you can take him in and wing it.” 

“You can always look up on raising kids,” Esper waved it off. “You’ll probably do it anyway without me telling you to.” 

“Go clean yourself up before Psyker complains about the mess you’re leaving.” The scientist groaned, trying not to breath in the copper smell lingering off of Esper.

Esper grinned, but spun around to head to his room, leaving behind a trail of mud tracked prints on the carpet and laughed when he heard his counterpart cursing at the mess. Once the time traveler was out of sight, Mastermind rubbed his temples and closed his eyes at the sudden change that awaited him. After numerous times of bringing in strays, he was expecting Esper to bring in cats, not children into the house. There was no further discussion among them about the situation, but it already felt official. 

Minutes passed before Mastermind opened his eyes to summon his dynamos. Resting his head against the wall, he sighed and ordered his dynamos to line up before sending them off to clean up the mess Esper and Add left behind. What was he getting himself into? 

* * *

How many has it been? Psyker leaned against the wall outside the hallway for what seemed like an eternity with his arms behind his head and sat with his legs criss crossed. He had his head tilted back with his eyes looking up to the ceiling. 

What was this feeling of restlessness he was getting? It didn’t feel right to be so still when so much has happened to them in the span of minutes. He was relieved to see Mastermind’s confused face to confirm that it wasn’t just him feeling like Esper’s decision on keeping Add was rushed. It wasn’t the question of if they were capable of taking care of another mouth (they certainly could since the three of them had the money and resources for it), but if they should. 

What was Add going to do on days where they all have to leave to collect data or run errands? They could try to compromise with any of the older members of Elsword’s group to look after him, but they won’t always have that option if none of them were available. Then again, did he really want to go through the details to explain why Add exists? 

Psyker was starting to get used to the idea of alternative selves when Add appeared, not a single day older than painful memories he would rather forget. Seeing that collar around Add’s neck turned his blood cold, especially how he saw the child tug on it by habit when they walked. 

He took Add by the hand earlier to led the child through the house. The child kept his head down, occasionally looking up to steal a glance and look at his face with a neutral expression. Add’s eyes wondered at his surroundings, but never completely taking his eyes off of Psyker for too long. 

He showed Add how to use the shower head and told him to call for help if anything came up, so why was he worrying? Add was a child, but he wasn’t completely vulnerable and was old enough to take a shower by himself. 

It was eerily silent when Psyker went arched his neck to lean on the bathroom door. The sound of running water was gone long ago and all he could hear were the sounds of water dripping from the faucet. It has been nearly half an hour. 

“Add?” Psyker tapped on the door with the back of his hand. His other hand was gripping tightly around the doorknob when he didn’t get a reply. He shook the door knob slightly, pounding the door to call out, “You still in there?” 

Hot steam made it hard for him to see he opened the door to poke his head in to see that the bathroom was in a state that would undoubtedly make Mastermind pull his hair out in frustration. Lines of soap bottles were arranged along the tiled floor, some of them tipped over and threatening to spill out before Psyker caught a bunch of them in his arms. Scanning around to see that Add was nowhere in sight, Psyker dropped the bottles aside in search for the child. 

The first place he went to check was the bathtub, which was filled to the brim with white foam threatening to overflow. Pink and blue bubbles floating in the air and popped when they arose too high into the hot air. The faucet was turned off, but Add was nowhere to be seen when he looked through the thick sea of foam and bubbles. 

Psyker looked at the water again when he thought he saw a shadow down there. What Add down there? His heart sank when he thought of the worse. With dread, he pulled his hand into the water to look for the drain plug, but yelped when he saw a pair of arms ascend from below. He lost his ground under the slippery surface of the tiles, fell on his stomach, and smacked his head against the bathtub.

He gasped in shock and held his head with his hands. Psyker covered his eyes with one hand while leaning his head against the tiled wall to alleviate the burning pain. Seconds passed before he cautiously placed the palm of his hand on the place where it hurt, relieved to see there was no blood when he pulled it away. His heart was still pounding from the close call when he sat up to see Add sticking his head out of the bathtub with a guilty look. 

Add had foam bubbles stacked on his head that would have been comedic if not for the panic the brawler had earlier. Any traces of dirt and grime he had from earlier were gone, giving his skin an unnatural pale look as if he hasn’t seen much light. He shrunk with water going up to his nose when Psyker noticed him. 

Confusion overtook Psyker for a moment when he noticed the kid’s tense body language until realizing that he towered Add when standing up. He sat on his knees and kept some distance away, careful not to frighten the child. 

“You’ll catch a cold if you stay in there any longer,” Psyker made his voice lighthearted. He dipped his fingers into the water and pulled it back out to shake off the droplets as if to make a point. “Why don’t you rinse while I clean up?” 

The tub water was halfway drained while its occupant washed off the bubbles and foam. It didn’t take long for Psyker to stack up the shampoo bottles in the shelves before using an old towel to wipe the floor. Add tiptoed around him while he was still cleaning to grab a towel and dry himself. He whined when Psyker attacked his head with a towel, later changing into clothes and mumbled he didn’t need help. 

“Sorry,” Psyker said with an apologetic laugh when Add rolled up his sleeves. “Couldn’t find anything your size.” 

They were the clothes the brawler wore when he was in Elder, but they were still too big for Add. The shirt went down to his knees and the shorts dangled near his ankles, making Add look scrawnier. 

“Feels weird, doesn’t it?” Psyker noticed Add feeling around his neck that free now free from the slave collar. The child was wide eyed at the foreign feeling of no longer having to wear that blasted slave collar. 

“Why do you wear a collar?” Add’s voice caught his attention. Did he always sound so…young? 

“It’s a choker,” Psyker corrected him, but Add wasn’t easily swayed. Faint memories of the scars’ origins hiding underneath his collar snuck up on him before he could come up with a half decent answer. 

“What’s under it?”

How much does he know? Did Add know who he was? Did Esper let him in on anything? 

Psyker felt his fingers around the back of his choker, sliding it off and lowering it away. The lines zigzagged across his skin like cracks, fading to a dark brown color that stuck out like a sore thumb against his skin. His eyes met Add’s, who gasped revelation that the blemishes scars were the same as his. 

“How many more do you have?” Add rubbed his neck, “Will they ever disappear? Does it wash off?”

“Enough.”

Psyker pressed his lips into a flat line. It was painful to listen to the child’s desperate questions; however curious he may be. He forced himself to smile, but it came out as a grimace instead. It came to no shock to see there were older scratch marks that were halfway healed when Psyker stopped Add from rubbing his neck again. He firmly made Add’s arms drop to the side and gave the child a stern warning. 

“Keep doing that and those scars will stay forever.”

Add glared at him, but efforts were lost when his eyes watered. Psyker ignored the snarls his younger self was giving him and calmly clamped Add’s arms to the side. Tears threatened to spill, but he kept them in, blinking rapidly to rid them. 

“Hey…” Psyker sighed. Things weren’t looking good when he just pissed himself off. “I can’t fix those scars, but I could use some help in the kitchen. Want to come along?”

His younger self stared at the brawler. Before he could respond, his stomach gurgled as if to answer Psyker’s odd request. Add slowly nodded.

“Great!” Psyker beamed and ruffled his hair. “Be careful though. Mastermind is gonna blow a fuse if you mess the kitchen too much.”

Add looked at him with confusion, but followed after the brawler with a brief smile flashed across his young face.

* * *

“Who are these for?” Esper asked with a bored expression. 

Before his eyes were sandwiches stacked high against the countertop. A loaf of bread was pulled out of fridge and with lettuce, tomatoes, salami, and cheese piled on top. The pickle jar was opened and Add had his hand in the mayo jar when Esper walked in to see what they were up to. 

“Us, of course,” was Psyker’s answer. Add crossed his arms when Psyker grabbed the butter knife away when he caught the kid swinging it around haphazardly and used it to slap mayonnaise on the sandwiches. 

Esper grabbed an already complete sandwich and nibbled off the corner of the crust with an absent minded expression. He decided that it was too plain and grabbed a pickle from the jar to add to his sandwich. Sitting next to him on a tall stool with his legs dangling on the side was Add and what was he wearing? 

Barely a preteen, Add wore a t-shirt that was clearly adult size with the sleeves reaching down to his elbows and the shirt coming down to his knees. His legs looked like sticks wearing old faded out shorts that also looked several times bigger than his actual size. 

“You should eat more,” Esper looked at Add’s thin limbs with some concern. 

The child ignored him and pulled out the lettuce and tomatoes, leaving nothing much in between the bread to eat. Esper shook his head at the waste of food. Add flicked the piece of lettuce away on his plate and turned his head to stick his tongue out to Esper. The time traveler closed his eyes in annoyance at the childish act. Add was so well behaved when they left that place… Any trace of fear from Add was gone and replaced with genuine curiosity and a neutral expression that made it hard to tell what was on his mind. 

“Shouldn’t you?” Add quipped back. 

Psyker cackled at the exchange and grinned, “He got you there, Esp.”

The time traveler covered his face in response with a loud groan. Could someone take him seriously on this? He wasn’t that skinny, was he? Esper hugged his stomach with sudden self consciousness, peeking through his arms to see Add giggling at his reaction.

“Hey,” Psyker sat at one end of the table with a plate of sandwiches and grabbed one to take a bite. Was he really planning to eat them all? Esper started to ponder if he could convince the brawler to take more from his own plate when Psyker said, “Where’s Mastermind?”

Esper shrugged and looked around to see that his counterpart was nowhere to be seen. He overheard Psyker mumble, “I bet he forgot to eat again.” The brawler glared at Esper as if accusing him of doing the same thing before sighing. 

“…I can take it to him.” Esper said with a pause. He glanced at Add’s empty plate with the remaining breadcrumbs. “He can come.” 

The child looked up when realizing Esper was talking to him and pushed his plate away to get on his feet and scramble after him. He was fidgety and hopping around with impatience before Esper starting heading over to where the living room was to see if Mastermind was still there. 

“Thank you,” Add mumbled. 

Esper looked at him with amazement. “For what?”

“Saving me.” 

He didn’t let it show on his face, but the time traveler was at loss for words. Although he had met so many versions of his younger self, it wasn’t often he had direct interaction with them. Esper tried to smile, but instead revealed a sharp set of teeth that caused Add to stare. He closed his lips over his teeth, giving the child a sheepish smile as if apologizing. 

They entered the living room to see that the place was spark clean again, the floor free of dirt and grime. Add poked his head down the hallway that led to their rooms while Esper checked through the windows. Hm, Mastermind wasn’t here.

“What happened to your eyes?” 

Add was on his tiptoes to get a better view of his face. It took Esper a moment to realize that this was the first time the child saw him without black sclera. He was no longer in his plug suit, but wore a black turtleneck and a pair of shorts with Add tailing behind him like a lost kitten. 

“You mean this?” Esper closed his eyes and opened them to reveal the whites of his eyes shifted to pitch black. This time, he smiled again to show his sharp teeth and how his irises glowed bright.

Add didn’t flinch. He stared at the glowing eyes with some awe, biting down the bottom of his lip as if deep in thought. 

“How do you do it?” He asked, “Are they always like that?”

Esper didn’t answer, ignoring the child and looking away. Wasn’t he supposed to be disgusted with him or even a little scared? He recalled previous encounters of the younger Adds like him, all of whom were curious about him but always too scared to talk much. Why was this one so different? Was it because he did something different this time? Or was Add already another person before the time traveler picked him up? 

“Mister?” He tugged on Esper’s sleeve.

Esper finally asked, “Doesn’t it bother you? My eyes?”

“No?” He grinned, “They look cool!” 

Esper shook his head with disappointment. Maybe this Add was more foolish than he thought. He ruffled the child’s hair and said in a serious tone, “Don’t say that to me ever again.”

He chuckled at the puzzled expression Add was giving him and patted him on the head again. It was a pleasant surprise to see that the boy didn’t fear him, but Esper couldn’t help but wonder on the implications. Was he going to have to make sure Add didn’t hurt himself because of his poor perception on what was “cool” or scary?

Seeing Add explore the house with curiosity like any other child gave him emotions that were ever so wavering, making it hard to pinpoint them. At first his heart sank with envy to see someone so small be so happy, but then that settled down and it felt more like nostalgia? Maybe even relief and happiness. Whatever it was, it was difficult to hold hard feelings when Add took him by the hand and followed him through the house like he trusted him. Esper wasn’t planning on breaking that trust. 

* * *

How did he get stuck as the babysitter? 

It was later in the afternoon when both Psyker and Esper decided to leave Add in his hands. Psyker mumbled something about getting clothes and extra food while Esper seemed to have mysteriously disappeared off without a trace. He was offered to come along, but Mastermind declined, wanting to stay behind and catch up on his reading when they were still fresh in his mind. 

Mastermind sat in the library with his head buried in his books. He looked up every so often to check on Add, who was sitting on the floor with a stack of papers and paper along with a cup of markers. There were no toys, so he was left to entertain himself while the scientist leafed through his notes.

For all the trouble he caused in the bathroom and kitchen with Psyker, the child was well behaved. While most children draw by pressing their markers hard until they bleed through the paper, Add was gentler when he outlined his drawing. He leaned over the piece of paper and hummed as he colored in between the lines. 

“What’s that?” Mastermind looked over his shoulder to see mess of squiggly lines in different colors.

“A cat,” Add pointed at the orange circles with four straight lines (the legs?). The scientist recognized the triangular ears and the whiskers drawn on the cat’s face. 

“See? These are flowers.” He showed Mastermind the pink and blue swirls next to the cat. 

A horizontal line was drawn underneath the cat’s feet and was colored green to show it was the grass. The sun was snuck into the right hand corner with the rays drawn out from the yellow circle along with white fluffy clouds outlined in blue marker. Standing under the sun next to the flowers was a stick figure drawn with long hair and in a dress. 

“Mom,” Add said in a small voice when he saw where Mastermind’s eyes were. He added another stick figure next to her, “This is me.” In purple, he wrote his name in all caps above himself and wrote ‘MOM’ above the other stick figure. 

“You miss her.“ Mastermind looked at the picture with a sad smile before giving his attention to the child again. 

Keeping his head down and turning his body away from Mastermind, Add gritted his teeth to keep in the tears, but they found their way rolling down his cheeks. He held his breath, but the scientist could still hear him sob. 

Mastermind put down his book, carefully placing one arm around the shoulder and pulling Add into a hug. The child didn’t complain and buried his face into Mastermind’s shoulder, holding onto him with a tight grip that reminded him too much of a certain time traveler that was too keen on latching onto him. Add kept his arms wrapped around his shoulders. He sometimes sniffled, but was otherwise calm with slow steady breaths. 

Add was the first to let go. Pulling his arms away, he kept his hands behind his back with a guilty expression and kept his head down. He looked at the book and drawing that was left on the floor and picked them up. Add walked over to Mastermind and showed him the drawing again. It was crinkled in the corners, but was otherwise fine if flattened with a rolling pin. 

“Can I keep this?” He asked in a small voice, “So I can remember what Mom looks like?” 

Mastermind rubbed his forehead with exhausted eyes. For the first time, he looked at Add and didn’t see him as a nuisance, but as himself. He saw a lost child that missed his home and was too tired to question where he was, having no choice but to depend on others to survive. 

“Of course,” Mastermind gave him a tired smile.

Add’s face lit up like a lightbulb. He stood on his tiptoes to get a better look at the scientist and grinned to show that his baby teeth were still there. Mastermind later found the child asleep on the floor with a book in his arms. A faint smile etched on Add’s face when Mastermind picked him up and placed him on the couch, propping a pillow against the armrest. 

Only then did Mastermind notice the small colored tabs of paper sticking out of the thin book Add was hugging in his sleep. He thought the child was using it only for supporting his drawing. Did Add read it without his knowledge? He didn’t look at the cover, but he had doubts the child understood a word of it. 

The house was quiet without Esper or Psyker around to bother him. Add was asleep and turned his body to face Mastermind, who was checking to see if he forgot something. While cleaning up the room, he saw Add’s drawing on the floor and picked it up to put it on the table with the book.

He saw the drawing of their mother and let out a soft breath. It was still a struggle to think about her death and move on as he claimed he did a long time ago. Add’s appearance simply revived those unrested emotions and reminded him it wasn’t something he could forget at will. 

The scientist pushed Add’s bangs away to see that there was no scar coming down from one side of his face. They were supposed to be the same person, but he had managed to avoid that particular fate that would eventually lead to a path of madness. Somewhat relieved at this discovery, Mastermind could no longer stay angry on Add staying with them. Even if they wanted to, returning Add to the past would likely cause more complications than necessary if Esper’s notes were to be believed at all. If saving Add stopped the child from entering the library at all…perhaps this was another chance for one of themselves to grow up normally. 

Maybe having his younger self stay here wouldn’t be a completely bad idea.


End file.
